HISTORY OF THE HASHTAG
INSTAGRAM; WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
TWITTER STARTING THE FIRE
FREEDOM THROUGH FACEBOOK
YOUTUBE: THE ANTHEM OF REVOLT
SOCIAL MEDIA POWER
The BlackLivesMatter hashtag first appeared on social media in 2013, while the group and their hashtag was created in #BlackLivesMatter was created in "2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was posthumously placed on trial for his own murder" [Cullors]. The hashtag has become one of the most trending hashtags on social media platforms in when a racial in-equality occurs. The Social Media platforms that these hashtags are on all allowing for some type of story to be told through the user, Instagram is one of the most visual social platforms in the world;. Twitter started the fuse by the creation of the hashtag in 2013; The BLM group also sparked the movement #AllLivesMatter and is associated with #HandsUpDontShooot, both of these groups also bringing and challenging racial in-equality and injustice; Facebook helps people talk about their stories in detail, helping them with their testimonials; YouTube helps share all the video testimonies of the people, through music, rallies and news casts. Social media did not bring silenced voices to be heard, but also made the voices that were already being heard have to change the conversation. Social media culture helped change the narrative of a problem. #BlackLivesMatter allowed for people of all ethnicities, sexes, ages and geographies to have a voice towards a moving and amazing cause, to help people fight for the right to racial equality.
RELATED #ASHTAGS
#equalrights
#racism
#oppression
#unapologeticallyblack
#socialjustice
#whitesupremacy
#policebrutality
#sayhername
#blackhistory
#idlenomore
#blackpride
#icantbreath
Velvet Cult
Brandan B Mike Odums
Queneisha J. Harvey
@MocadaMueseum
Felix Jackson Junior
Sasha Matthews
THE HISTORY OF THE HASHTAG
Instagram is one of the largest photo sharing apps on the planet, with over "500 million active users" (Parker), the site is there "to allow people to experience moments, that way you and your friends' live through pictures as they happen" (Chen). The Black Lives Matter group uses their Instagram to spread love, while also spreading awareness, the account has over" 71 thousand followers and growing daily" (Parker).
The BLM's Instagram is there to help create a narrative based on images and visual effect, because at times "the injustice can feel overwhelming – and it's easy to see why despondency levels are at an all time high" (Sisley). Their official Instagram keeps things light though, there instagram is mainly based on great art and photography to help sketch in the silver lining in all the worlds chaos and racism.
The problem with all hashtag based searches on any platform is unrelated images or text pop up, with todays society and the mass creation of memes and gifs, the social power that these sites hold can easily be lost with unrelated photos. However, this has not deterred the movement, people still use the hashtag as a way to speak out and bring justice to people. The hashtags used on instagram are still bring huge awareness to the cause, especially when the hashtag is used by a celebrity or large corporation, as these people/groups have a higher audiences and can reach more users.
"WHEN WE SAY BLACK LIVES MATTER, WE ARE BROADENING THE CONVERSATION AROUND STATE VIOLENCE TO INCLUDE ALL OF THE WAYS IN WHICH BLACK PEOPLE ARE INTENTIONALLY LEFT POWERLESS AT THE HANDS OF THE STATE.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE WAYS IN WHICH BLACK LIVES ARE DEPRIVED OF OUR BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIGNITY." - BLM GROUP
# BLACK LIVES MATTER INSTAGRAM
“OUR COURTS AND JURIES AREN'T IMPARTIAL ARBITERS — THEY EXIST INSIDE SOCIETY, NOT OUTSIDE OF IT —
AND THEY CAN ONLY PROVIDE AS MUCH JUSTICE AS SOCIETY IS WILLING TO GIVE."
Jamelle Bouie
"NOT A MOMENT, BUT A MOVEMENT." -BLM group
BLACK LIVES MATTER ON SOCIAL MEDIA
HOW TWITTER IGNITED THE TOPIC
"It doesn’t mean they weren’t angry or anxious. But in 140 characters, people showed thoughts of moving forward and making a difference. The Black Lives Matter movement realizes it’s part of a long-term social transformation and shows continual engagement. And it continues despite having no formal hierarchal structure” (Maderer). Twitter and the hashtag has had the power to galvanize a social media based generation, they taken the power that normal media outlets have used and expanded their audience, so that they can say what needs to be said without unwanted bias.
The Black Lives Matter movement started with Twitter and has become one of the most known hashtags in past years. The hashtag constantly receives new tweets that are always related to injustice, though the tweets do spike in usage when a larger or more "newsworthy" event happens. The hashtag had 29 million tweets surrounding four major events: the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri (August 2014); the decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson (November 2014); protests and the shooting deaths of two New York City police officers (December 2014); and the death of Freddie Gray while in custody of Baltimore police officers (April 2015) (Maderer).
"Hashtags have the power to bring attention to and mobilize a large population. Petitions, protests, letters to politicians and those in power are disseminated through social media, but what brings attention to a movement or a hashtag is the high number of mentions of a hashtag, which is what brings it worldwide attention" (Khan-Ibarra) .
#### other associated movements ####
All lives matter is a slogan that has become associated with criticism of the Black Lives Matter, some black lives matter supporters believe that it overlooks the Black Lives and moves the importance to other groups of people. All Lives matter is a movement that stand behind the belief that we are all human beings and deserve to be treated as so, however it still supports the Black Lives Matter movement. "It’s reasonable to expect that if you’d had to witness the gross injustices committed against those in non-white communities, you would understand why “All Lives Matter” is so harmful. You would understand that it is in fact you who is missing the point." (James,,Damiani).
Blues Lives Matter is a pro-police movement based in the United States. The movement started after the killings of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in Brooklyn, New York., on December 20th, 2014. The officers were ambushed in their patrol car and killed. Blue Lives Matter was formed in reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement, which seeks to end police brutality against the African American Community. The organization and current nationwide movement that was created is there to help law enforcement officers and their families during their times of need.
"Hands Up, Don't Shoot" has become a defining slogan of the protests in Ferguson. The hands up gesture used widely by black males when dealing with Ferguson police was transformed into verbal weapon of protest. Al Sharpton encouraged demonstrators to use the gesture by saying, "If you're angry, throw your arms up. If you want justice, throw your arms up. Because that's the sign Michael was using. He had a surrender sign. That's the sign you have to deal with. Use the sign he last showed. We want answers why that last sign was not respected. The slogan and gesture started August 9th, 2014 after the shooting of Michael Brown, it was adopted at protests against police brutality and violence.
“I can’t breathe” focuses on the precise moment of a tragic death from the victim’s perspective (Zimmer, Ben).
The officers were ambushed in their patrol car and killed. Blue Lives Matter was formed in reaction to the Black Lives Matter, movement, which seeks to end police brutality against the African American Community. The organization and current nationwide movement that was created is there to help law enforcement officers and their families during their times of need.
"THESE CONVERSATIONS ARE ALWAYS SO TENSE, SO PAINFUL. WE WANT TO BELIEVE WE ARE GOOD. TO FACE THE THE RACISMS AND PREJUDICES WE CARRY FORCES US TO RECOGNIZE THE WAYS IN WHICH WE ARE IMPERFECT. WE HAVE TO BE WILLING TO ACCEPT OUR IMPERFECTIONS AND WE HAVE TO BE WILLING TO ACCEPT THE IMPERFECTIONS OF OTHERS."
Roxanne Gay
Social media networks cross technologies and have immediate impact that gives it urgency, makes it personal and allows for immediate individual action. That social media changes public awareness, because information moves freely and quickly, that when people participate they become part of the change.
The freedom that Facebook creates is helping ecceletate that of Twitter, as twitter has limitations to what can be said, with only 140 characters it has impact by introducing the concept that less is more. Facebook allows for individuals to share their stories and beliefs with those who they know and trust, that it becomes a space for freedom of speech, yet also allows for protection that rallies and protests may not have. Facebook also helps people come together and form groups that may want to do exactly that, protest, rally, come together to start change. The Black Lives Matter group has many followers and likes, but it has also sparked other groups, like Black Lives Matter Toronto, BLM Atlanta, BLM Michigan and many more. The fact that the movement spreads so far past one area, and reaches people from all over helps their movement.
Facebook allows for individuals to share their stories and ideas concerning anything they deem appropriate, may people have shared their stories of racism or hate violence that have been inflicted on them, that is why social media matters, that some people can have tohe courage to do something from behind a screen rather than in front of one.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH THROUGH FACEBOOK
"By definition, every social movement’s overarching goal is to effect some sort of social change, whether it be in individual attitudes, cultural conventions, and/or institutional policies. Between the decision to begin pressing for a particular change and its ultimate fulfillment lie many proximate goals, the achievement of which increases the likelihood of the desired change." (Freelon)
"SOCIAL MEDIA GIVES PEOPLE THE POWER TO CALL OUT INJUSTICES, INACCURACIES AND MISREPRESENTATIONS AND BRING OUT BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF OTHER CULTURES AND PEOPLE. "
UNIFICATION THROUGH YOUTUBE
"A new generation of artists are addressing racism, violence and disillusionment in a way that hasn't been heard in decades" (Spanos, Grant) YouTube allows for the most powerful new protest anthems to come out during this Black Lives Matter era. The social media creation allows for the senses to combine, that there is not just a single image, or certain words, but that the video combination of both captures full moments of life. YouTube is known for all type of videos, a main one being music oriented. Music videos and songs have the ability to capture all people, no matter the generation.
These videos reaching the hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of views, the one thing that the social media power of YouTube has that other media platforms doesn't, is that videos can be popular no matter geography, religion or race. YouTube has no limitation to its audience, where some other media platforms can have this problem.
The generations that come will have media based documentation of life, they will have every single social media outlet and historiography available to them, be it music, rallies, tweets, pictures, or long testimonials from Facebook. The power that social media holds changes the way of the world, that it has no boundaries and has no limitations to the people available to it.
GLORY; COMMON AND JOHN LEGEND
Black Man In A White World; Michael Kiwanuka;
"Black Rage (Sketch)"; Lauryn Hill,
Hands Up; Daye Jack feat. Killer Mike
HOW SOICAL MEDIA EFFECTS EVERYONE
"Social media activism is a movement: A group of people working together to advance their shared political and social ideas" (Khan-Ibarra).
Social Media: Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking
Activism: The policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.
When the first hashtag was used it started a movement, this movement has transformed a generation and a society, they have forced a change in narrative so what they say, and when they say it, they know that it is heard. The amazing thin about social media is that its reach is infinite, there is no limitation to the audience that it can reach, while other news outlets become obsolete in their certain geographical location, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube have no boundary or restriction.